No comments about Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering.

5 comments about Redux: Designs that Reveal, Recycle, and Redefine.

1. I saw this book listed on Amazon, so I checked it out at my library, before buying it. I am glad I did. Redux is just a collection of photos about remodeling projects done in a very modern style. If that is what you're looking for, then this is the book for you.
   If you are looking for information, such as how to evaluate, plan, remodel, cost involved and DIY info about taking a old building, and converting it into living space, then you will be disappointed in this book.



2. This book poses an interesting concept in recycling building materials to save the world, if only just a little bit with less refuse. The author gives several examples showing beautiful houses built using this principle with captivating pictures, which is all very nice and fine, however not very useful for the do-it-yourselfer, especially if one has to apply a boric acid solution for a two-year time period to rid the old wood of pests and bugs... It's not very practical until these salvaged building materials are a little more accessible to the general public in a useable condition.
   
   There is a list of resources in the back of the book that can be helpful, advising readers on salvage shops, exchange programs of used items, furniture, etc.
   
   I found this book to be more a showcase of the work of various green architects from around the country. If you're more of a DIY-er, may I recommend Readymade Magazines' book, Ready Made: How To Make (Almost) Everything; A Do-It-Yourself Primer. Some of the projects can be a little silly, but it opens the mind to new channels of creativity, using everyday salvagable objects.



3. Jennifer Roberts' REDUX: DESIGNS THAT REUSE, RECYCLE, AND REVEAL features homes which were built or remodeled to be healthier to live in and easier on the environment. Some are newer structures built entirely from recycled materials, while others were renovated to make the most of energy-efficient materials and systems. Practical tips and resources accompany pages packed with color photos, recaps of green features, and discussions of how salvaged materials can even create innovative new styles.



4. This is a wonderful book. The writing style is engaging and easy to read. The book is chock-full of information, but always tempered by the practical--perfect for the average person wanting to incorporate environmentally conscious methods in whatever projects are at hand. The featured projects are diverse and inspirational and the green ideas applicable even on a small scale (i.e. how to buy energy efficient appliances). This should be required reading for anyone embarking on a remodel or building project.



5. I'll start this review by pointing out that the work of my company is included in this book. But that's also the point of the review. So often, when one's work is featured in a book or magazine or newspaper, the results are subpar and unsatisfying. The work (or one's values, or whatever is being shown or discussed) may be distorted, or poorly reproduced. Not so here. Jennifer Roberts has done a superb job - she has gathered an eclectic collection of projects, assembled them beautifully, and presented them in an immensely compelling and informative way.
   
   The quality of the photos, the layout, and the elegant diversity of projects combine to welcome you in and inspire you to settle down with ithis book for awhile (as I've just done, after first critically reading the segment about us, of course). The "back stories" are a great addition, because through them we get a glimpse into the thinking of the people responsible for the projects.
   
   I'm certain I'll be back for a few more rounds with Redux - it's a wonderful book about the beauty and relevance that can emerge from a fresh look at the scrap heap."

2 comments about Bridges: Three Thousand Years of Defying Nature.

1. I purchased this as a gift for a very dear friend. She was absolutely over the moon when she saw it. She had been wanting it, but hadn't been able to get it for herself. She has been enjoying it ever since and is absolutely delighted with it.



2. This covers every possible aspect of bridge building that a layperson could think of. Except for one thing. It hardly mentions the laborers who are responsible for the work that made these bridges possible. Yes, a bridge is made from concrete, brick, steel, timber, cable, iron, and whatnot, but what about the blood, sweat, and tears? The book goes into the construction of piers, the methods used to erect various parts of the bridge, and so forth. But it stops short of mentioning how the laborers were organized, who they were, where they came from, and how many of them died building these works of art.
   
   So, although the book filled me with knowledge, I finished it feeling a little bit empty, as if I had seen the surface of all the seas and oceans of the world, but never a whale or fish.

1 comments about Hugh Newell Jacobsen, Architect.

1. This book chronicles the work of Hugh Newell Jacobson until 1988. This brilliant American architect is in my opinion very underrated, as this seems to be the only book dedicated exclusively to his work.

   The many plans and photographs clearly illustrate the key elements of his design philosophy. Among these are his use of simple, often symmetric plan forms, steep angled roofs and pergolas that are expressed as roof windows whenever they occur in the interior. His mastery of lighting design and the consistency of his detailing is evident in many photographs.

   The book is well printed on high quality paper. Unfortunately some of the pictures seem to be scans of photographs from earlier publications, and when these occur as full page photos they are not sharp.

   One wonders why this book has not been updated with this 2003 edition. Quite a number of the projects are indicated as due for completion in 1988, yet I have seen photographs of several of them in their completed state in other publications. It is furthermore a pity that the projects are not dated; one has to go to the Chronology at the back of the book to find the dates. It would also have been nice if the pictures at the Chronology where printed with the projects' main texts as some of these pictures are vital to the understanding of some of the projects.

   These criticisms aside, this book is highly recommended, especially at the reduced price.

2 comments about Majesty of the Garden District (The Majesty Architecture Series).

1. This book has a lot of interesting info and the pictures are amazing! The ONLY problem that I have with the book is that some of the numbers for the B&Bs and museums are no longer working. Great job otherwise!



2. This is a beautiful book and all the more important in the light of recent events. The copy is repetitive and dry but the pictures are lovely. I would have appreciated more info on the architecture and history of the times these homes were built.

1 comments about LARE Review Section D Practice Problems: Design and Construction Documentation, 2nd ed..

1. These books are not particularly helpful for the 2008 tests, as far as giving an indication of what is actually covered. They are really only useful in providing an idea of how the questions are worded. Study Time Saver Standards and focus on stormwater management.

No comments about California Country Style.

No comments about High-Performance Building.

3 comments about Building Type Basics for Hospitality Facilities.

1. it's ok, but I was disappointed at the lack of real information. alright, there are some good parts, but then I found the Rutes Penner book and it really is full of stuff. A better choice.
   --Carrie, Blacksburg, VA



2. Great Book, I am an architect new to hotel design and I found this book filled with lots of valuable information, especially in chapters 2 & 3 where they discuss some awesome projects. Nice photos and diagrams throughout the book.



3. Sorry, but this isn't much of a book. Only 160 pages without the index and other stuff in the back, mostly self-promotion by a few architects of their own projects -- ok, some nice hotels and good color pictures in the middle -- only a little technical information. Other books have much more content, or more pictures of a wider variety of hotels/resorts. Way too expensive for what you get.

2 comments about Peter Walker And Partners Landscape Architecture: Defining The Craft.

1. amazing graphics along with pictures of the designs. if you like peter walker, you'll love this book.



2. Peter Walker and Partners.
   Landscape Architecture: Defining the Craft.
   Thames and Hudson
   531 Illustrations and diagrams 431 in colour.
   2005 London
   ISBN-13 978-0-500-34207-7
   
   Based in Berkeley, Peter Walker and Partners (PWP) is, in conventional terms, a fantastically successful practice and this book documents their signature projects since 1997. Although with only three open competition wins to their name, the practice has received an extraordinary 110 industry awards since 1960. Not only that, everyone knows Peter Walker is a champion of quality, a leader who has bridged academic and professional spheres and networked the world to his practice. In Australia, as elsewhere, Walker is greatly admired; indeed, he is called upon to preface our books and help us design things like the Sydney Olympics. That we couldn't do this alone is not his problem. These are the halcyon days of Walker's career.
   
   As described in his first monograph "Minimalist Gardens" (1997), Walker somewhat unconvincingly indebts his work to the mid to late 20th century art movement, Minimalism. He also acknowledges the influence of Japanese gardens and (environmental) artists such as the late Isamu Noguchi as well as drawing a line between himself and the 17th century French master, Andre Le Notre but anyone buying this book out of interest in these connections or Walker's intellectual or creative maturation in general will be disappointed.
   
   Despite this being implicitly his book, Walker, insofar as one can tell, doesn't contribute a single reflective word. Like a corporate annual report, this book has no identifiable author except the generic entity, PWP. Perhaps, as an established figure, Walker feels he no longer has to speak too much about the work. Maybe he has nothing new to add to his well publicised views. Or perhaps, after years of arguing for landscape architecture to be appreciated as a meaningful art he's changed his mind and concluded that- as this book's title suggests -it is now craft that really matters; and craft, unlike art, speaks for itself. But he (i.e, PWP) couldn't have played into the old squabbles between art and craft unconsciously, and yet such things are not addressed. There is, in fact, only one theme in this book and that is that PWP delivers quality. Accordingly, this book looks and feels like an Expression of Interest, in other words- an ad, albeit one with the imprimatur of Thames and Hudson. Having said that, what text there is, is relatively lighter on spin than we have become accustomed to.
   
   There are 37 posh projects collected in this volume and they are categorised into: Recently Completed Projects; Projects in Progress; Site Planning and Urban Design; and Competitions. The projects are prestigious, big and lush, an extraordinary range of work amassed over just a few years. Accompanying each project is a straightforward (if not reductive) explanation of the brief and PWP's subsequent design strategy. This is where the consumer of this book, if he or she unpacks each design, stands to learn something of value because, irrespective of whether you like or dislike their styling, PWP projects are exemplary in terms of accurately responding to a project's priority needs.
   
   Typical to the corporate monograph there is a perfunctory essay up front by Jane Brown Gillette. Rather than engaging with Walker's oeuvre or matters aesthetic, her essay is essentially a cursory description of the mechanics of the practice. She toasts PWP's loyal workers (apparently the best students from the best universities) and lauds its diplomatic project managers. Her essay reads not as if written for the international landscape community that PWP has so effectively used as it's global conduit, rather, the essay seems directed at prospective clients. She forewarns but also allures them to the culture of excellence that is PWP and makes that excellence seem user friendly. Apart from a brief notation of the firm's position in North American landscape architecture and the occasional but typical landscape architectural inanity such as telling us that PWP can make "nature visible and meaningful" there is nothing critical, analytical, theoretical, insightful or even polemical in this book. In this regard, academics or anyone interested in the intellectual "craft" of landscape architecture will have no use for this book.
   
   In Gillette's essay there are references to, and quotes referring to "ideas" in the designs, but for mine they are not actually ideas; they are solutions. More often than not these solutions rely on a somewhat formulaic geometric elegance which creates structure, followed by superimpositions of pattern to form surface. To be "ideas" they need to have meaning, not just efficacy, and meaning is a question this book ignores. For Walker, minimalism has been a way around the problem of representation, but, at some level, there is no way around representation, no way around meaning. Since the text in this book is so lazy, the images of the PWP craft have to do most of the talking. Hence, the book is literally stuffed full of super gloss photos, 531 to be exact. But many are cliché's, relatively vacuous images of greener-than-green trees, sparkling water, and an awful lot of nice people generally looking content in PWP's sanitised, high-resolution Arcadia.
   
   Although they have reason to be, PWP doesn't come across as smug. As Gillette says, if there is one word that describes the practice its "earnest". Be that as it may, one also gets the feeling that despite having a studio full of the best people the office culture of PWP might lack internal critique. Of course, it is an exceptional achievement to have created a global practice and maintained such high standards; but, the book, in failing to offer anything but promotional material, feels disingenuous. Apart from an excess of photos the book doesn't really explore or zoom in on the details of construction and project management that PWP are so good at. In other words it doesn't deliver what it promised - a `definition of the craft". So, whilst it will no doubt bring in more work, it wont go down well in history and therefore I think we can expect a third monograph on Mr Peter Walker et al.